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HammeronsfromNowhere
GregHowe
September18,2009
HammeronsFromNowhere(HFN)isatermIcameupwithalongtimeagoinordertoprovidestudentswith
tabnotationthatdescribedtheideaofhammeringontoastringthatwasnotpreviouslyfretted.Mostofusare
quitefamiliarwiththetermhammeron,whichisofcourseatechniqueperformedbyforcefullybringinga
frettinghandfingerontoastringthatwaspreviouslyfrettedorpreviouslysoundedinordertoexecuteanewnote
withouthavingtosimultaneouslypickit.Atypicalhammeronwillalwaysbehigherinpitchthanthenotethat
precededit,howeverwithHFN,thisisnotnecessarilythecase.
OneoftheadvantagestousingHFNisthatyoucanbasicallyhammerontoanystringyouchooseandproduce
resultsinwhichahammerednoteendsupbeinglowerinpitchthantheoneprecedingit.Infact,theHFN
conceptactuallylendsitselftotheideathatahammerednoteislowerinpitchthantheprecedingnote.Thiscan
resultinmanyunusualandunorthodoxsequences,manyofwhichcaninvolvehugeintervaljumpsthateasily
simulatelicksandpassagesmorecommonlyassociatedwithadvancedfingerpickingtechniques.Themost
blatantexampleofthiscanbeheardontheExtractionalbum,intheunaccompaniedacousticguitarinstrumental
piececalledADelicacy.
Thefirstfewexamplesarebasicallyrepetitiveexercisesconsistingofshortsequencesinorderforyoutoget
comfortablewiththewholeconceptofHFN.Thelaterexamplesonlineatpremierguitar.comillustratemore
complexsequences,someofwhichincludetheuseofopenstrings.
Note:Whenusingalotofdistortionandgain,Ifindthatrollingwaybackontheguitarsvolumeknob,along
withapplyingpalmmutingwiththepickinghand,significantlyhelpsinachievingclarityandarticulationwith
thesetypesofideas.Also,fortonereasons,Ioftenusethesecondfingerofmypickinghand(hybridpicking)in
placeofupstrokes,butthisisnotnecessary.


GregHowe
GregHowehasenjoyedasuccessfulrecordingcareersinceburstingontothescenein1988,andhistalentshave
beensoughtafterbysomeofthebiggestnamesinthemusicentertainmentindustry,suchasMichaelJackson,
JustinTimberlake,andEnriqueIglesias.